The limits were announced as President Felipe Calderón faces criticism for his administrations failure to intercept the elicit money that cartels bring into Mexico.

“For the last few years we’ve seen the Mexican banking system receiving a very large amount of U.S. dollars in cash, far beyond what could be explained by the activities and dynamics of the economy in Mexico,” said Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A U.S. and Mexican joint report stated that cartels send between $19 billion and $29 billion a year from the U.S. to Mexico, with just under half that amount making its way into banks.

“This measure is consistent with a strategy of fighting not just drug trafficking but also organised crime,” Cordero said, according to the BBC. “We have to close the way to dollars from sources that may be illegal.”

Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch

Displacement of peasants by armed actors continues to plague Colombia, according to Marco Romero of the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES). Mike Samras reports on Romero’s talk in Washington.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predict that Brazil will lead an agricultural boom over the next decade, along with China and India.